Worst suburbs in Chicagoland (Aurora, Cicero: low crime, hotel, houses)

[allen2323]

Originally Posted by Northwest Indiana

Gary's overall crime index, spanned over ten years, has not only declined (due to population loss as well) but is significantly lower than Ford Heights. Also, Ford Heights doesn't really border Dyer, although it is close-by. Regarding Gary, I would say that even though it is not a good town and has gone past downhill, it still has features that most would agree put it ahead of Ford Heights (beaches, Miller Beach neighborhood, Railcats stadium, proximity to the skyway/expressway, Gary/Chicago Airport, South Shore rail stations). Are these features "the norm" for all of Gary? No. Would I ever live in Gary? No. But if given the choice between Gary and Ford Heights, I would have to go with Gary because I could at least live in a nice isolated area and get a house like this (yes, it is very overpriced but at least it is nice, new, and by the beach) as opposed to living in Ford Heights in a place like this (which is not a bad home --currently the most expensive and arguably nicest listing in Ford Heights -- but given its location, I could find a similar home in or close to Miller Beach for a still reasonable price).

As a whole? Gary is probably worse than Ford Heights due to the fact that such a huge (formally nice blue collar) city is basically on the brink of death. It is not unheard of for a town as small as Ford Heights to become rundown.

If you HAD to choose between only GARY and FORD HEIGHTS, where would you choose? And why? (Hypothetically of course)

Gary has declined. It was once a nice city and is now a rundown shell. Gary is an example of actual economic and class decline. There are beach front mansions in gary sitting on lake michigan. Gary has it's own airport. It had luxury hotels. And a once thriving large downtown.

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by allen2323

Gary has declined. It was once a nice city and is now a rundown shell. Gary is an example of actual economic and class decline. There are beach front mansions in gary sitting on lake michigan. Gary has it's own airport. It had luxury hotels. And a once thriving large downtown.

I agree with you...but you DID NOT answer my question...

would you rather live in

FORD HEIGHTS

or

GARY

if you had to choose ONLY ONLY ONLY ONLY ONLY between those two?

[oak999]

[quote=svillechris;16575407]After reading through this whole thread, I have the following comments/questions:

1) What is the point of debating what the worst suburb is? What will that help? Constantly bashing certain areas does not accomplish anything aside from maybe boosting the self-esteem of those who are criticizing the town.

I can not disagree with you more. If my family and myself had listened and moved out of Oak Forest we would not be in the position we are in right now with a declining suburb and being taxed and paying fees (big taxes and fees) on everything but the air we breath here in Oak Forest. I wish I would have listened and I wish I had more people tell me the truth.

[allen2323]

Originally Posted by svillechris

After reading through this whole thread, I have the following comments/questions:

1) What is the point of debating what the worst suburb is? What will that help? Constantly bashing certain areas does not accomplish anything aside from maybe boosting the self-esteem of those who are criticizing the town.

2) allen23, you constantly disagree with Chuckity (and Northwest Indiana at times), even though she lays out facts that are impossible to argue with. It has become quite evident that you are now simply aruging with her, and you provide very little evidence and real facts to your side of the debate.

3) To even compare the schools of Olympia Fields, South Holland, or Dolton to the Munster school system is laughable. Munster is significantly better. The statistics have been posted many times.

4) Olympia Fields definitely does have a very high median household income. However, the population is so small compared to many other towns that allen2323 has compared it to, the comparison is very skewed.

5) There is still a resistance to the fact that the south suburbs overall have declined over the past 10-20 years. Please, don't be in denial, wake up and see the truth.

NWI is the only area in chicagoland that has seen actual economic class decline in the past 20-30 years. And Ok I get it the public schools in indiana are better. So what. Most public schools in the chicagoland area suck equally anyway. With the exception of 5-10 good public school districts. And judging by the shear number of great private schools out here and throughout other middle class and affluent areas the public schools have always sucked. Not one of these private schools are new.

[SonySegaTendo617]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

Well, Rockford has at least 3 Starbucks and Gary has Indiana University & Hammond has Purdue, so I don't think any of those can be on the list.

Let's all remember to keep this discussion to communities that are defined as Chicagoland counties(generally, anything within the 7 county area in IL, Kenosha County in Wisconsin, and Lake and Porter for NW Indiana). Rockford is too far out to be considered part of this discussion.

There are some debatable counties on whether they should be included, namely DeKalb and Boone Counties in Illinois, and LaPorte in Indiana. I'm going to keep to the stricter definition I stated above, and only say communities within those counties:

Ford Heights(especially if you consider the fact the Cook County Sheriff had to take over patrolling that community, due to how broke Ford Heights is, and that they disbanded their police department. not sure if they've recently gotten funds to restart their police department, but as of now I think Cook County Sheriff is still handling patrolling FH)
Robbins(once accompanied my dad to a funeral for one of his friends, and I was surprised how crappy and depressing that town was)
Harvey
Maywood
Bellwood
Stone Park(also doesn't help that the community is little more than a major speed trap, than anything else)
North Chicago
Gary

For now, I think that's all for my list.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

Okay, you've said before you don't really have a first hand knowledge of NWI since you've only crossed over a handful of times. How do you know what NWI looks like?

And like I said in my previous post, NWI encompasses five - FIVE - counties. That's a lot of land to cover. Are there pockets of great urban decay? Holy cow, yes - without a shred of a doubt. Is all of NWI a mass urban wasteland, similar to Detroit? Um, no. Not even close.

Why do you keep steering the topic back to NWI anyway? The topic has nothing to do with NWI ... it's about the Worst Chicagoland Suburbs - like Harvey, Cal City, Ford Heights, Riverdale ...

You do know that many of the Detroit suburbs (Oakland County plus the Gross Pointes) have upscale areas that rival just about any thing in the north and west suburbs right? Do you also know there are even a few areas in the city limit where is still nice housing? Detroits not completely an urban wasteland either. And Detroit actually does have a real downtown with the stuff (museums, stadiums, entertainment) a downtown of any major city is supposed to have.

I hate to say this, but overall I would say NW IN has less going for it, than the Detroit area, except that people can commute to Chicago if they are willing (in NW IN).

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by allen2323

What don't you agree with? That NWI has not seen a detroit style decline? Or that alot of NWI does not look like youngstown ohio? That Gary, hammond, whiting, east chicago, etc have not been the rare examples of actual economic class decline in the chicagoland area. And just like in detroit metro, there are now just some solidly middle class suburbs that are located a safe enough distance away from what should be the economic engine of the region.

I would say the suburbs east of I-57 are in the same boat. As well as a few select near suburbs on the west and SW sides. Like someone mentioned Bellwood, Stone Park, Summit, etc. have declined.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by allen2323

I am not familiar with subdivision names in munster, but that is only one subdivision in munster. Olympia Fields is upper middle class and affluent almost entirely. Munster is more like solidly middle class homewood or south holland class wise. And the median household incomes are very similar. Olympia fields has a median household income of over $110,000 per year. Most folks living out here are higher earning professionals.

Don't forget about young people who make little money and live at home with their parents, their mom or with family/friends. It's often young men who commit crime, anyway.

Most top wage earners in Olympia Fields households are high earning professionals. Olympia Fields has upper middle class households but especially in this day and age, this isn't necessarily as good as it sounds.

My household is middle class but I work maintenance and I need some money, man. I can sympathize with someone who is struggling and steals a bunch of money - even someone who just happens to live in Olympia Fields (or Munster).

[urza216]

Originally Posted by Northwest Indiana

I agree with you...but you DID NOT answer my question...

would you rather live in

FORD HEIGHTS

or

GARY

if you had to choose ONLY ONLY ONLY ONLY ONLY between those two?

I'll go with Ford Heights because I have friends nearby in Sauk Village so I'd feel a little bit safer than I would in Gary. Also because Gary is bigger so it's harder to leave. Ford Heights is smaller in land mass so it's easy to leave your house and go to another town nearby.

I chose Ford Heights.

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by urza216

I'll go with Ford Heights because I have friends nearby in Sauk Village so I'd feel a little bit safer. Also because Gary is bigger so it's harder to leave. Ford Heights is smaller in land mass so it's easy to leave your house and go to another town nearby.

I chose Ford Heights.

Thanks for answering the question, honestly.

Allen2323, do you care to answer the question?